On the occasion of the United Nation’s International Day In Support Of Victims Of Torture on June 26, 2024, the Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) continues to strongly support the victims of torture. It also condemns all forms and manifestations of tortures and physical abuses perpetrated by authoritative and detested regimes around the world. One may refer to the following recent statements issued by CHRD Bangladesh regarding human rights abuses in Bangladesh:
Under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, illegally in power since 2009, torture and violations of human rights have become an indemic tool against political dissidents. Such tools are also used to extract “confessions,” as well as to instill fear. It is routinely executed by the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), powerful police and various state intelligence agencies. Director Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch (HRW), termed RAB as a “death squad” with impunity, and urged the Bangladesh government to disband the abusive outfit. The US imposed sanctions on RAB and its top officials in 2021 for its serious human rights violations. However, the Sheikh Hasina administration continues its human rights abuse. Instead of addressing the issues, the regime cracks down on the victims and their families, and also the human rights defenders who work with rights organizations. The vice-president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Angela Bayena, acknowledged that Bangladesh continued to sweep “under the rug” the human rights complaints against RAB and other security forces.
The torture and abusive acts included merciless beatings, electric shocks, waterboarding, hanging upside down for hours and forced nudity. Writer Mushtaq Ahmed succumbed to electrocution in his genitals in February of 2021. His “crime” was a Facebook post criticizing the government for its inept handling and corrupt practices during the Covid pandemic. When a host of resident ambassadors complained about Mushtaq’s torturous death, the foreign minister at the time, Abdul Momen, castigated the media for publishing the news of the death.
According to a 2022 report of Odhikar, a reputed human rights organization in Bangladesh, nearly one hundred persons were tortured to death over the past decade in violation of the constitutional provision of the Torture and Custodian Death (Prohibition) Act of 2013, as well as Bangladesh being a signatory to the UN Convenstion Against Torture (CAT).
In addition, more than 600 persons have faced enforced disappearances with no trace, while hundreds of others have become victims of extrajudicial killings. In a lone showcase trial in 2020 against a few police officials for torture to death, the criminals were allowed to flee and evade justice. Families of the victims are not only denied justice but also face continued harassment and threats from the law enforcement agencies to maintain silence on the issues.
Regrettably, India, Sheikh Hasina’s unconditional backer, remains a party to all such abusive activities in the country.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) continued to voice strongly against the torture and human rights abuses in Bangladesh. According to its June 26, 2021 report, the UN’s Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) thought that the Bangladesh police and law enforcement authorities were a “state within a state,” which operated with complete impunity and zero accountability. Acknowledging the seriousness of the matter, HRW demanded that the UNHRC should adopt a resolution against the enforced disappearances, tortures and extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh. It further recommended that Bangladeshi officials with records of criminality and human right abuses should be excluded from the UN Peacekeeping missions around the world.
In a Joint Statement in 2022 on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, a number of rights organizations demanded that the Bangladesh government end torture and rampant human rights violations. They also urged the government to stop persecuting human rights defenders and families who speak against abuses. The signatories included the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDA), Maayer Daak (a Bangladeshi organization of the families of the victims of disappeared persons), the Odhikar, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and others.
CHRD Bangladesh urges the Bangladesh authorities to abide by its constitutional obligation to Convention Against Torture (CAT) and heed international outcries against repeated abuses of human rights against its political opponents and anyone who expresses any opposing views.
CHRD Bangladesh also demands the termination of the human rights abuses elsewhere in the world, such as on the civil society in Palestine, Uyghurs in China, Rohingyas in Myanmar, and on Muslims and other minorities in India.